He received his musical education mainly at the Hochschule für Musik Würzburg and Lübeck and completed his studies with Professor James Wagner and Professor Günter Binge . In the early stages of his career he was engaged at the Lübeck Theatre where he had the opportunity to sing the main roles of the lyric tenor repertoire like Don Ottavio Don Giovanni, Belmonte Entführung aus dem Serail, Alfred Die Fledermaus and Alfredo La Traviata.

Since his 1999 debut at the Berlin State Opera as David in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg under Daniel Barenboim. Stephan Rügamer is a regular member of this house. Here he sang parts like Raimbeaut in Robert le Diable (Minkowski /Quander), Chateauneuf in Zar und Zimmermann, Narraboth in Salome (Weigle/ Kupfer), Cassio in Otello (Barenboim/Flimm), Tamino in Die Zauberflöte (Salemkour/ Everding), Sänger in Der Rosenkavalier (Rattle/Brieger), Boris in Katja Kabanowa (Salemkour/Thalheimer), Schuiskij in Boris Godunow (Barenboim/Tcherniakov), and Macduff in Macbeth (Weigle/ Mußbach). Also under the direction of Daniel Barenboim he sang his first Erik in The Flying Dutchman atTeatro Real in Madrid and later in Berlin under Daniel Harding.

Mr. Rügamer has appeared as a guest artist at the opera houses in Frankfurt and Essen as well as at the Dresden, Hamburg, Munich and Stuttgart State Opera, at the Théâtre Châtelet in Paris as Matteo in Arabella, Boris Katja Kabanowa followed by Tannhäuser Walther at the Teatro Real Madrid and at the Teatro alla Scala di Milano with Marquis in Prokoffiews The Gambler and Loge in Das Rheingold.

Stephan Rügamer sang at the Festivals of Luzern, Chicago Ravignia Festival, Salzburg and Bregenz and in St.Petersburgs Festival of the White Nights as Loge as well under Valery Gergiev.

Recent operatic and concert highlights include Tom Rakewell in The Rakes Progress at the Berlin State Opera (Coleman/Warlikowski), Loge Das Rheingold for the Teatro alla Scala di Milano, with the same part at the BBC Proms in London. 2017 he interpreted the paart of the Captain in Bergs Wozzeck at Grand Théåtre de Genève and Paris Opéra de la Bastille, 2018 at Lyon Opéra Prinz Pao at Zemlinkis Der Kreidekreis and at Dresden Semperoper Ödipus in Ödipus Rex by Igor Strawisky and last year at Berlin State Opera Don Gerome in Betrothal at a Monstery by Prokoffiew.

In concerts he has sang with the major broadcast and symphony orchestras in Germany and abroad; Conductors with whom he has worked include Pierre Boulez, Christoph v. Dohnanyi, Michel Gielen, Jesus Lpoez- Cobos, Ingo Metzmacher, Andris Nelsons, Simon Rattle, Jaap van Zweden and Zubin Metha.

Highlights of the current season include Peter Quint in Turn of the Screw and Max in Der Freischütz at Berlin State Opera as well as Loge in Das Rheingold at Dresden Semperoper under Christian Thielemann.

With Mahlers Song of the Earth (Schoenberg/Riehn) at Dabringhaus&Grimm he won an Echo Classic Prize 2015. New recordings this year include a DVD with Henry Purcells King Arthur from Berlin State Opera and a CD production from Kopenhagen Danish Radio Symfoniorkestret with Dallapiccolas Il Prigogniero under Gianandrea Noseda, which won the editor´s choice of Grammophone Magazine in august 2020.